Thursday, February 14, 2013

It’s been three seasons since the Los Angeles Dodgers last made the playoffs. Mired in both bankruptcy court and divorce court during the final few years of Frank McCourt’s ownership, the team remained stagnant in perpetual mediocrity with little vision or regard for the future as well.

With Guggenheim Partners slated for their first full season of team control following their record $2.15 billion dollar purchase of the team, the future is now for the Dodgers. The roster has been quickly restocked with the type of high-profile high-salary players that you might expect from the baseball arm of a $170-billion dollar financial services firm, and fans are once again excited for Dodger baseball.

According to TiqIQ, the average price for Los Angeles Dodgers tickets at home this season is currently a staggering $182 dollars. This represents 237% percent increase from the 2012 average price of $54 dollars, one of the largest year-over-year increases that TiqIQ has encountered in their three-plus years of tracking secondary market ticket pricing data. Looking back to 2011, the team’s last season of McCourt ownership, the increase in average ticket price to this year has been an even more astronomical 323% percent.

The highest-priced series of the season is currently the August 23-25 series against the Boston Red Sox. Last season, new ownership made a trade deadline splash by acquiring an underperforming triumvirate of Red Sox mega-contracts composed of Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, and Josh Beckett. While Boston was ecstatic to shed the payroll, John Henry’s trash became Peter Gruber’s treasure and is serving to help ignite what was previously a dormant and rather apathetic fan base for a number of years. The average ticket price for this rare matchup of storied franchises checks in at a whopping $250 dollars, and it currently costs $23 dollars for the cheapest seat in the house. This series also contains the single highest priced game of the year at Chavez Ravine, which is the series opener on August 23rd currently priced at an average of $252 dollars.

The next two highest priced series of the season are divisional matchups against the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants, and the Arizona Diamondbacks. Both of these series take place down the September stretch, with the Diamondbacks coming to town on 9/9-9/11, and the Giants replacing them in the visitor’s locker room on 9/12 through 9/14. The Giants series out-prices the Diamondbacks series ever so slightly for the two-spot, at an average price of $236 versus $227 dollars.

Rounding out the top five most expensive series for Dodgers tickets of the season are the July 30-31 two game set against the New York Yankees, and the August 30-September 1 series against the San Diego Padres. When the Yankees come to town, it will mark just the third regular season series between these two teams that have met a record eleven times in the World Series. The average ticket for this series currently runs $226 dollars, but it is the cheap seats that have really skyrocketed for this matchup, with the cheapest seat in the house priced at $46 dollars. This is exactly double the price of the cheapest seat for the season’s most expensive game by average price, which is aforementioned $23 dollars for the 8/23 Boston game.

It is interesting to note the difference in ticket prices that a couple months can make. While the August 30-September 1 Padres series is the fifth most expensive series of the season at an average price of $222 dollars, the April 15-17 Padres series is actually the second cheapest at $103 dollars. The lowest priced series of the season pits the Dodgers against the Pittsburgh Pirates from April 5-7. Checking in $89 dollars, it is the only series all season with an average ticket price below the century mark. Rounding out the bottom three lowest priced series of the season, all of which take place in the season’s first month, will be the April 26-28 set against the Milwaukee Brewers at an average price of $123 dollars.